Thursday, 30 October 2008

Another inspection day done and over with, lega sikit, now we can 'rest' for another 3 months. Pagi tadi sebelum sent the Little Misses to school and pegi kerja, we did some last minute tidying up especially the bathrooms. Yelah, pagi2 mandi kan so lepas mandi tu kenalah lap2 the shower area and the bath tub so tak lah basah and comot for inspection, and susun cantik aje the towels, hehehe. Pastu, everyone pagi ni kena breakfast cereal sebab Mummy tak nak breadcrumbs from the toast to go everywhere. Mana sempat maa nak vacuum the dining area after breakfast! Well, the main reason is that I was too malas to slice the bread that the other half made last nite. Sebab the bread that he made is multigrain bread and bila nak slice using the normal bread knife, the crumbs will fly everywhere, sure lah messy nanti my pristine kitchen! Kalau hari lain, I don't mind slicing sebab takde inspection. Maybe I have to look out for the electric bread knife, I wonder if it'll produce less of a mess masa slicing? I still haven't sliced the bread yet sampai sekarang, hehehe..... Esok pagi ajelah :-).

When we left the house this morning, it was really neat, clean and TIDY but when I look around now, I can see things everywhere.... Sheeeshhhhh!!!!! Tak sempat pun satu hari the house remains tidy, dah bersepah a few things again. But since semalam dah bertungkus lumus mengemas rumah, tonite I don't care about the mess, I'm just going to ignore them! The other half is even worse than me, he's so oblivious to any mess in the house, kalau ada depan mata dia pun dia boleh tak nampak! He said, he sees things a bit 'slower' than me. He said I can see mess and dirt as soon as it appears while he can only see it bila dah menggunung! A bigger sheeeshh!!!The Little Misses jangan cakaplah, they don't see mess, fullstop! :-). Bila Mummy dah membebel, barulah they can see the mess miraculously and pandai terus mengemas lepas tu! I'm such a mean Mum, ha..ha..ha....

Wednesday, 29 October 2008

Penat satu badan hari ni sebab bertungkus lumus with the other half megemas dan mencuci rumah for our quarterly house inspection esok. I took time off work semata2 nak mencuci rumah and the other half pulak just happened to be his teaching free day today.

So, lepas aje sent the Little Misses to school today, bermulalah operasi 'nyah kotoran', hehehe. Tapi biasalah kan, I kalau duk rumah every hour kena ada internet break, tu yg ambil masa the whole day kemas n cuci rumah. Macam lah besar sangat2 and messy sangat2 rumah ni sampai it took us the whole day to get everything done :-). Sometimes, memang bosan pun kena kemas rumah for inspection ni sebab we have to do all these extra work before the inspection. Most of the things on the 'inspection list' memang lah we all buat tiap2 minggu or daily like keeping the toilets and bathrooms clean and tidy, vacuuming the carpets and mopping the tiled floors, dust all the sawang /cobwebs but there are things on it yang memang we all buat semata2 tunggu the day before inspection. For example, cleaning all the extraction fans in both bathrooms and on top of the stove, cleaning the aircond vents, cleaning all the windows and the glass doors inside and outside. Dah lah our windows and glass doors ni sliding windows, so kenalah make sure the 'runner' in between the 2 sliding glasses are clean of dirt and habuk! Tu yg kadang2 tak larat sebab all the tiny details pun diaorang nak 'tick'. Sheeeshhhhh....... Nasib baik lah only quarterly inspection aje, kalau tiap2 bulan, mau hangin satu badan!

But since I ni ibu mithali kan (perasan sekejap :-)), still sempat gak masak dinner, hehehe. But memang dinner yang paling senang. I cooked some pasta and sauteed some sausages and then put them in a pyrex dish and pour a jar of Leggo's pasta bake 'tomato, ricotta and spinach' sauce into it and mix them well. Then top it with grated mozzarella cheese and bake it in the oven until the cheese is brown. Voila, dinner is ready! Memang express dinner betul. But when you have it with green salad and crusty bread, it's really yummy and healthy too :-). I think you can find this brand of pasta bake sauce kat Malaysia as well. If you can find it, do give it a try because it's really yummy and so much cheaper than going to Pizza Hut for your pasta :-). If you bawak pergi pot luck party, memang lah orang akan kata you pandai sangat2 masak western food, ha..ha...ha...... Habislah pecah rahsia I macam ni ;-).

Menggeledah the potato basket, cuma tinggal 3 biji aje potatoes. Kalau utk the other half sorang, cukuplah kot :-). Nasib baik ada lagi keledek yang masih elok and belum berakar umbi kat dlm basket tu so bolehlah top up the carbs with that. Then protein pulak kena fikir, sebab dah pukul 5.15 and tak keluarkan apa2 pun lagi dari freezer, I just grabbed some frankfurts and thawed them in the microwave. But still had no idea what to do with the frankfurts! Takpe, while thinking of what to do with the frankfurts, I diced some onions and garlic and cubed the potatoes and keledek and sauteed them in butter and olive oil since it'll take some time for the potatoes to cook kan. When the potatoes were half cooked, I still couldn't decide what to do with the frankfurts. Punyalah teruk kan I ni, it's not even brain surgery, cuma kena decide what to cook for dinner aje pun ambil masa yg lama, hehehehe.....

Finally I decided to skinned the frankfurts and sauteed them with sliced onions and poured eggs on them in the pan to make frittata. Then top them tomato sauce and BBQ sauce and shredded cheese and grilled them under the griller. Jadilah frankfurt frittata which for me taste much better and appears to be more of a 'gourmet' dish than just plain old frankfurts dip in tomato sauce, hehehe... To serve, we had them with steamed carrots and raw cucumbers and tomatoes.

Inilah rupa my frittata from the pan to the plate.

Sebelum kena make up dengan cheese

I think cheese tu yg membuatkan dia jadi lebih sedap kan, hehehe.

Bubbling merrily under the grill.

The final product, with sauteed potatoes and sweet potatoes and 'traffic light' veges.

Monday, 27 October 2008

Another glorious spring day, wish all days could be like this :-). But with Spring comes hayfever and so far my hayfever is really at its worst. Tiap2 tahun bila Spring, macamnilah hidup I, the whole day I'll be sneezing with runny and itchy nose, itchy and watery with occasional swollen eyes and very itchy palate - the lot! Every year I kena tukar my antihistamine to a different type sebab after so many months of usage, sometimes they don't work anymore so I have to find one that works on my hayfever for that year. And I normally have to get the highest dose if I want to survive the whole day without feeling so miserable. Teruk betul penangan Spring and all the pollens it brings. If only I can find out and isolate the pollens I'm allergic to without having to do skin prick testing, that would be great. After seeing Miss 5 had the skin prick test done on her back when she was a year old, that's enough to scare anyone, hehehe ;-). Maybe one day I'll get it done so I can find out which pollens I'm allergic to.

Sunday, 26 October 2008

We had a wonderful day today. Woke up feeling a bit disoriented with the time because of daylight saving, hehehehe. Then went out to Burswood park for a farewell potluck picnic for Miss 5's classmate who's going to Medan to live for a few years. She's definitely going to miss this girl because she's quite chummy with this girl at school. The weather was just wonderful for a picnic today, it was warm with a nice gentle breeze blowing. Luckily I'm already 'tan', so tak payahlah susah2 nak sunbathing today ;-). The Little Misses had so much fun with their friends playing in the playground, collecting rock oysters by the river, climbing trees and watching the speedboats go by today. And I had fun eating and eating and eating and chatting with the mums :-). Terlupa pulak nya nak ambil gambar all the food on the groaning picnic table today sebab I was too busy stuffing myself, ha..ha...ha... I think the other half had a good time too.

Miss 5 with her best friend. Her best friend is only a 1/4 mat saleh but muka lagi mat saleh dari Miss 5 yg 1/2 mat saleh, hehehe.....

First time ever I had the Little Misses dressed in the same dress. Selama ni memang lah tak pernah rasanya I gave them the same clothes to wear except raya time. Even the other half commented on it sebab dia pun tak pernah tengok his daughters wear the same clothes together, hehehe. I said to him, I got the dresses at Pumpkin Patch sale, 2 for $20 so it's a good excuse to get them the same dresses so they can look like sisters, hikhikhikhik. With the Little Misses is the brother of Miss 5's best friend.

I'm not sure what it is with Miss 5 and statues, she wanted to climb on all of them! Hish.......

Bila dah kenyang, when we got back home, we were so lazy and unmotivated to do anything lah so we spent the whole afternoon just lazing around the house even though the house is very messy. Takpelah kan, it's only us anyway at home and we dont mind a bit of mess :-). But malas macam mana pun, there's still 4 mouths to feed so dinner tonite was really simple, sausage rolls and salad. Malas2 pun still tergerak jugak nak buat dessert to satisfy our sweet tooth :-).

Saturday, 25 October 2008

Daylight saving will start tomorrow in WA which means we'll lose an hour of sleep tonite. This will be the third year of daylight saving in WA of a 3 year trial period starting in December 2006. Then this issue will be debated again in parliament to see if it will stay or not. I'm on the fence in regards to daylight saving, I like having sunlight until nearly 9 at night because it feels like there's more time to go out and about at night, but it plays havoc on the Little Misses' sleep though. Ye lah kan, selalunya they'll be sleeping at 7.30-8 at night and it's already dark but with daylight saving they'll be sleeping when the sun's still up! tapi us the biggies, tak kisah pun, boleh aje tidur bebila, hehehe.

But what I don't like about it is it's too long! From October to March, that's 5 months of the year our clock is screwed up, hmmm..... I guess that's the 'joy' of living in a 4-season country. So, all kawan2 bloggers yang tinggal in WA, don't forget to set your clock forward an hour at 2:00 am ye or else adalah yang nanti pergi kerja or school or appointment on Monday lambat 1 hour, hehehe.

Friday, 24 October 2008

The rain's finally here. It was really really heavy this morning, with strong winds to boot. And just now, the Little Misses baru aje nak masuk tidur when suddenly both of them came running out saying, "we saw white flashes through the window blinds! And we could here thunders as well!" I guess the long awaited thunder storm has also finally arrived :-). Best lah tidur malam ni with the rain and thunder and lightning, I love it!

Tonite's dinner was pizza, I made 3 types because we had guests over so the non pedas pizza for the kids, hot salami pizza for the adults and pizza marinara for the other half. He was the only one yang suka seafood pizza ni. We had the pizza with salad and garlic bread. Tu yg nampak banyak sangat pizza in the picture, macam nak buat pizza and movie nite aje kan! Then, to end the pizza feast, I made chocolate cake. Bila lah nak mula diet ni, cheese followed by chocolate! Syawal dah nak abis but diet tak mula2 lagi, hampeh betul lah!

Thursday, 23 October 2008

It finally 'rained' today, well, if you can call a few drops of water rain. What the people normally say here when there's only a few drops of rain is "it's spitting outside". I wonder who they think is doing the 'spitting', hmmmm..... I'm still waiting for the thunderstorm though :-).

We had guests today at our house for dinner. A blogger friend who just migrated from M'sia to Perth with her family. Selama ni she's been reading my blog and seeing all the 'wonderful' food that I've made and created which might appear so tempting and delicious and tonite she finally got to taste my food. I pity them because they might have found the reality a let down when it comes to my cooking :-). Like I've been saying so many times before, you can do a lot with photos nowadays to make them appear delicious, ha..ha...ha.... Nantilah Sheri, I masak yang sedap2 ye bila I tengah extra rajin, hehehe.

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

The weather has cooled down a bit, alhamdulillah but still no thunderstorm or even a tiny drop of rain as predicted by the BOM. Probably all the rain clouds from here dah pergi bercuti to Malaysia sebab I heard kat KL sekarang ni tengah ada persidangan ribut petir sedunia tiap2 petang :-). Dah lah tiket AirAsia tgh murah pulak nya ye, hehehe..... ;-).

Anyway, changing the subject completely. Miss 5 came home on Monday after school telling me that she had finished all her lunch during lunch time at school and that she was still hungry afterwards. So she told her teacher that she was still hungry. Then the teacher told her, 'when you go home, tell your mom that you are still growing now and you need lots of food." Eh eh leh, punyalah buat malu Mummy aje Miss 5 ni. I feel like I'm such a bad Mum for not giving her kids enough food at school but if you look at what Miss 5 has for lunch everyday, memang lah banyak betul, the same amount of food as her sister! But Miss 9 tak pernah pulak komplen tak cukup makan, hehehe...... Luckily the teachers know me well and they know that Miss 5 realy likes her food so tak lah malu sangat, hahahaha. So, since semalam, I made sure I bekalkan her extra food for lunch. And bila I tanya dia tadi, cukup tak her lunch now. She said, ' it's just right Mummy!". If you see what I put in her lunch box, memang lah tak padan dengan saiz dia, I think even I will find it very filling for me! I don't know where she puts all the food though, hehehehe.

For tomorrow's lunch, she's already asked for leftovers from tonite's dinner :-). Dinner tonite, I made spag bol for the Little Misses and crabmeat n scallop fettucine for me n the other half. Our fettucine ada chilli so tu yg I made spag bol for the kids. The fettucine was a real fusion dish because as perencah I added a bit of taucu to the garlic and chilli so it gave a bit of oomph but not that strong. Mana lah ada orang masak pasta letak taucu kan, hehehehe, but since tekak orang rumah ni semua dah go fusion abis so tu yang tambah taucu. I guess the taucu has a similar 'job' as the anchovies yang a lot of Mat Salehs put in their pasta, to add a depth of flavour to the bland pasta.

The brown things are mushrooms :-). Can you see the scallops? Hehehehe....

Monday, 20 October 2008

It was so hot today and it's still only Spring! The temperature must have gone up to 36ºC tengah hari tadi when I picked up the Little Misses, the heat was so intense in the car in the 5 minutes when I parked the car and switched off the aircond. Rasanya kalau pecahkan telur in the car, memang lah boleh masak telur tu, hahahaha. Tak payah panaskan dapur hari ni, just letak aje the Zafira under the sun and use it as an oven, hehehe, lebih kurang macam kat Malaysia lah but without the humidity. Sampai aje kat rumah, terus pasang aircond barulah rasa nyaman aje badan ni :-). Yesterday, they were predicting thunderstorm this evening but until la ni, setitik hujan pun tak turun lagi and takde pulak dengar dentuman guruh or kilat sabung menyabung. Dah banyak kali jugak lah when they predicted thunderstorm, but it didn't happen. But rasanya starting from Wednesday, it's going to rain until this weekend. We'll see if that'll happen. Kalau hujan, baguslah for all our seedlings and plants, bolehlah membesar bagai johan :-).

So, bila panas sgt ni, nak masak berat2 for dinner pun tak larat. Bukan nak makan yang tak larat, nak masak nya yang tak larat. Kalau ada orang yang nak masakkan berat2 , anytime we all larat nak makan, wehkehkehkeh. So, since tukang masak malas nak berpanas kat dapur, I made my version of chicken caesar salad for the other half and I and chips, salad and chicken for the Little Misses. The chicken was leftover roast chicken from the other day and I just racik2 the flesh for our salad. And it was light enough for summer but still very filling to satisfy our hugry tummies :-).

Sunday, 19 October 2008

As promised, some photos of the Little Misses at the playground yesterday.

Where's everyone?

See how 'high' the kite flies, hehehehehe......

Miss 9 'teaching' Miss 5 how to fly the kite.

The other half said Miss 5 looks so different in this photo..... Really?

Alone trapped in the ship :-).

Wouldn't it be nice if I can tell people inilah pemandangan dari belakang rumah I, hehehe... If Only that was true! The only body of water yang I can see from the back of my house is the takungan air under the pokok limau purut pot! Jauh sangat bezanya dengan gambar ni :-). I took this photo semalam from the playground. That's why we love Perth so much, because of the views....

Saturday, 18 October 2008

We had a busy but fun day today. We invited some friends over to the house today so pagi tadi lepas bangun aje terus busy kemas rumah and bathroom ( Salina, our house is not always that kemas and clean, hehehehe ;-) ). Then took Miss 9 to Girl Guides while we went shopping at the fish shop and the asian grocery shop. Found frozen petai and durian there and the other half really wanted to have them. I sometimes wonder which one of us is the Asian in the family? He said it would be nice to have nasi lemak for dinner with sambal sotong and petai. Aduih Mat Saleh sorang ni, lagi teruk teringin nya dari I, hehehe. Luckily tak jumpa tempe there, kalau tak, sure dia dah suruh beli and goreng tonite!

After that, we went back home for lunch and went out again with the friends to Point Heathcote playground. Miss 5 had a great time at the playground there while Miss 9 had a fun time trying out her new kite :-). She bought the kite on Thursday and punyalah tak sabar nak main. The other half had to teach her how to fly it but biasalah kan, baru aje belajar, lagi banyak menjunam dari terbang, poor her. But, she had so much fun though :-). I'll put up the photos esok aje lah ye.

Then came home and cooked nasi lemak and all its accompaniments. Thanks Salina for the help in the kitchen :-). I think everyone enjoyed dinner tonite sebab semua siap bertambah lagi, hehehe. Maybe semua kelaparan sebab dinner was a bit later than usual :-). Even the other half siap bertambah makan sambal sotong and petai.

Friday, 17 October 2008

End of the week's finally here but we'll be busy again this weekend. The other half has to do our tax this weekend before the ATO comes knocking on our door! We have to submit it before the 31st of October and baru sekarang terhegeh2 nak buat, hishh..... Past few years except last year, we've been getting some tax refund but tahun lepas for the first time, we've got to pay some more tax to the government! Tension betul, dah lah banyak dia cut from the other half's pay and yet we still have to give some more to them! Banding dengan Malaysia memanglah Australian income tax is so high. When he was working in M'sia, his income got taxed around 5% tak silap but now kat sini he gets taxed around 40%, punyalah jauh beza, hehehe..... When I tell sedara mara kat M'sia berapa banyak tax he gets now, semua terperanjat dengar and semua macam tak percaya aje :-). Macam mana lah nak kaya kan ;-). But that's life I guess.

And we still have to finish our 'remodelling' of the rooms. Since we've been so busy during the week, memanglah tak sempat nak siapkan mengangkut segala barang2 and furniture. We managed to transfer a few more things tonite and have finally managed to empty out the guest room of all the junks and what-nots that were 'stored' in there. But bukannya di buang pun the junks, we just 'relocated' them to another room, hahahahahaha. But we've put aside all the stuff to be given away or thrown away so bila ada masa terluang nanti, bolehlah pergi Good Sammy.

This is how the burgers look like before being toasted. I just used leftovers roast chicken, mashed avocado, sweet chilli sauce, mayo, sliced tomatoes and shredded cheddars. I think using roast chicken tastes way better than using store-bought chicken patties. Maybe sebab the skin tu yg buat rasa dia lagi sedap, hehehe.

In the sandwich press they go :-).

Erkkkk, help! They came out so flat but the cheese was nicely melted inside and the buns toasted just perfect. Yummmmmm! Cubalah baru tau :-).

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

Finally, the last day of school holidays, yeay :-). I think the Little Misses are getting pretty bored at home as well and can't wait to go back to school. Kalau kat rumah, balik2 asik muka yang sama aje and nak main pun cuma dgn each other aje. After a few hours of playing together, they will start arguing which will escalate to teasing and crying which will lead to Mummy or Daddy tukar jadi Hulk, hehehe. So, baik lah pergi sekolah macam tu kan.

Dinner malam ni I made to satisfy tekak Jawa and tekak Mat Saleh and tekak anak2 'jams' = jawa+ mat saleh kat rumah ni. Most of the time, we eat the same thing for dinner sebab Mummy malas nak masak 2-3 jenis dishes. But hari ni I saje je buat 2 different meals that are so totally different, kononnya nak melayan citarasa yang berbeza lah. And also sebab Mummy terperasan rajin sekejap :-). Both dishes are quite similar but very different at the same time. For the tekak Jawa, I made lempeng sempoi abis and for the tekak Mat Saleh, I made crepes which are basically lempeng version Mat Saleh. But lempeng sempoi I cuma guna tepung, air and garam aje with kunyit as colouring. Crepes ni pulak French lempeng which use tepung, susu and eggs. So, kiranya lempeng versi Jawa ni less fattening lah dari lempeng versi Omputih ni, hahaha.

Dinner for the other half, crepes with ricotta mixture filling. Inti crepes ni I sauteed onions and garlic. Then I added cubed chicken fillet, sliced button mushroom, diced silverbeets and salt and pepper and sauteed until masak. Then I added the ricotta cheese to it followed by toasted pine nuts. Banding dengan kari, memanglah a bit bland but it was still very delicious as filling for the crepes.

Monday, 13 October 2008

I didnt go to work today and I wont be going to work esok sebab I have to look after the Little Misses these 2 days. Tomorrow will be their last day of school holidays (woohooo!!! :-)) so since I ni ibu mithali, I look after them today instead of the other half :-). Actually the other half has seminars and lectures the whole day today and esok tu yg dia tak boleh jaga the Little Misses. And since my work is so flexi, I lah yang kena jaga them, lucky me, hehehehe.....

So, what did I do with them today? I took them grocery shopping, shopping for unnecessary kitchen stuff :-), and window shopping in the morning. Sekali sekala I have a free morning during the weekdays so of course lah I akan pergi shopping kan even if I have to drag the Little Misses along. But since they were well behaved and weren't complaining too much when I dragged them to all the shops, I took them to the playground afterwards. So, they were happy and Mummy was happy too :-). So, layan gambar the Little Misses at the playground.

Sunday, 12 October 2008

There's a saying that goes something along the line of ' A change is as good as a holiday'. I guess if you are rich, you can do both but since we've just had our holidays in June, so we had to do the next best thing today which was changing the furniture around :-). After lunch just now masa tengah lepak2 depan pc, the other half and I were discussing about the layout of the rooms and we decided to move a few things around so it will look like we have more space. We love doing this every few months bila dah rasa bored tengok benda2 yang sama at the same place hari2. Nak cat rumah or gantung benda2 kat dinding tak boleh sebab rumah sewa, so angkut and pindah furniture around aje lah yang boleh di buat. We might change them around again in a few months time :-). I do ramble on and on and on, don't I?

And while the other half and I were busy with the furniture, the Little Misses were outside playing with water. After an hour playing outside getting very wet and soaked, they came inside shivering and very blue! It's only Spring and bukannya panas sgt pun hari ni but diaorang yang nak sgt main air sampai basah kuyup so kesejukan lah!

Anyway, back to my sedih story, kiranya adalah lebih kurang 12 biji aje lagi tart nenas yang tinggal and I've already told the other half that no one can touch them except me! Hehehehe, tamak haloba betul wife dia ni when it comes to tart nenas :-). I really want to make some more this wknd sbb jem nenas banyak lagi in the fridge. But then, if I were to make some more, it will mean that I will be eating them non stop which can only lead to one thing..... weight gain! Baru aje 9 hari Raya, but I've already gained 1 kg, hampeh betul! Tapi sayang pulak kan kalau jem nenas tu terbiar aje kat dlm fridge tu sampai berkulat ;-)..... Dilemma Hari Raya, wehehehe.

So, apa yang patut I buat ye? Give in to my desire and make more tart nenas this weekend and not worry about the weight or tak payah susah2 buat tart nenas and stay slim forever :-).

Tuesday, 7 October 2008

Thank you to everyone who wished Miss 5 a happy birthday. She's officially now a Miss 5, she thinks 5 is such a big number because it's half of 10, hehehehe. So, kiranya Mummy and Daddy ni dah ancient sangat2 lah sebab dah berapa kali multiples of 10s :-). I know I'm ancient because the other half now loves to count my grey hair. Bukannya ada banyak pun but he gets so excited kalau terjumpa even 1 grey hair on my head! And you wonder why he keeps his head shaved. So I can't search for grey hairs on his head, thats why!

Today, the Little Misses had their 6 monthly dental check up. For a 5-10 minute check with the paediatric dentist, it cost us $52/child. Luckily all their teeth don't need any treatment or else lagilah banyak kena bayar, hehehe. But Miss 9 might need to see an orthodontist in a few years time if her jaws aren't growing big enough for all her adult teeth to fit in nicely. The problem with her is that she's got the cute asian jaws but big mat saleh teeth so susahlah nak fit all those big teeth nicely without overlapping or getting crooked in her mouth which only means 1 thing....... Braces City, here we come! That will definitely be a huge bill! kenalah start saving from now nampak gayanya, hehehehe.

Some photos of the Little Misses occupying thier time today with bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles.